I've been trying to find some anime series to help me improve my listening understanding but I have to admit I'm a little clueless about anime in general. I was wondering if anyone could recommend a good series to me.

I'm not that keen on series like Gundam or Ghost in the Shell (although my partner loves these!). One series I have liked was Azumanga Daioh as it seems a bit more realistic than many other series and I'm quite fond of Ranma 1/2 (though I need to find episodes with English subs soon as we only get them with Chinese subs here in Taiwan). Are there any other series that are similar to these two that I might enjoy?

I would recommend anything by the author of Ranma 1/2, that is Rumiko Takahashi. There is Rumiko's Anthology which is a series of dramatizations of very short stories. There is also Maison Ikkoku, a 90+ episode series where the manager of a single room boarding house is a young widow who can't help but fall in love with a "ronin" among the other misfits in her charge.

Well there alot to choose from but check out, like those above said, action oriented like Fullmetal Alchemist, *Cowboy Bebop* is a must, Outlaw Star, You said you don't like Gundam but that's because the majority of the series on it suck but I don't know if you have seen it or not but "Gundam Wing" I garentee you'll enjoy it.

For more Mellow stuff and comedies animes like, I can't think of alot right now, but Lain, Shuffle, Chobits, Foolie Coolie is pretty humorous.

Knowledge is the only salvation for those who seek to exist, otherwise it's just cool.

Scrapped Princess. The subbed version by Keep-ANBU is really good... some of the best subs I've seen yet, in fact. Not sure if the anime has been licensed by now though.

I also enjoyed Last Exile a lot - its certainly different than most other anime.

Recently, My brother and I have been watching "Zipangu" - which is about a Japanese cruiser and crew which somehow gets sent back in time, to WW2. They try to stay out of the war, and avoid interfering with history, but eventually it becomes unavoidable. Very interesting show, but it was licensed just as episode 19 came out >.> So, we'll have to wait until its out in america to see the rest, most likely.

Eureka seven. The fansub for now. The ongoing dub is horrible because the voice actors are so melodramatic. They sound like they are thinking, "what corny line is this" so don't watch the dub. The Japanese voice acting is top notch. When they cry, I cried, when they laughed, I laughed. Well not always, but I really did feel the character's emotions from the Japanese actors.

It starts pretty slow, and I think ep 9 is the first episode that shows the darker side of the series, but it's 50 episodes long so there's lots of character development throughout. It has a decent cast of characters and they are ALL NORMAL. Well one is forced to take drugs that makes her mentally unstable. But, there's no one that acts in an incomprehensible manner and more characters seem to change than in any other series of any type I've seen. Even a lot of characters that appear to be archtypes at first change into something different over the course of the series. Eureka probably gets the award for the character that changes the most in any story ever. And watching people change and grow as they overcome obsticles is what really makes a story for me.

Besides some really cool action, there is a lot of drama and several love stories ongoing. I also like that it doesn't rely on slapstick for humor. When people hit other people, it's not meant to be funny at all. Renton is your typical young teen. So there is some teenage angst there, but he grows out of it. He's more about solving problems than whining about them.

Because lots of anime has the main characters die, the entire experience was far more carthartic than it would have been if the same series was made in america. If it were made in america then I would have expected a happy ending, because it made in japan, once the series got going, I was feeling a lot of emotional tension throughout wondering if one character would die, or if one man's unrequited love woulld remain unrequited. Wondering if the two main characters would end up completely in love, but have to live the rest of thier lives seperated to save the world.

I'm very glad I didn't see this in order though. I missed the first episode and 5th episode. then I saw episode 8 the drama of that episode plus the trailer made me really want to see 9, so I went and grabbed a fansub and watched the rest of the series. I'm glad I did. Episode 9 had a lot of drama that kept me on until the plot really came rolling in. If I had watched the dubs in order, I don't think I would have made it to episode 8. This series does start slowly so a lot of people don't stick around until it gets good. If you think your one of these people, just skip to episode 8. You can come back and watch the previous episodes later.

The soundtrack is top notch and I really love Animone's name. In Japanese it is probably the most beautiful sounding name ever. In English it stinks of course.

Yes this is a mech anime, but this anime is not about the mechs at all, it's totally about the people.

There are a few continuity errors I've noticed, but none really detract from the story much. I have to consider this the best story of any genre for now. It just had too many themes that appeal to me very strongly.
Because of the emotional drama ongoing in this series, i highly recommend watching the episodes closely together, not waiting a week or even a day between if it can be avoided.

Last edited by Infidel on Wed 06.28.2006 3:46 am, edited 1 time in total.